1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a locking device which consists of a combination of a latch and a striker and serves to lock an openable wall of a piece of furniture or electric apparatus, or a lid or like openable wall for closing an opening of a container.
2. Prior Art Statement
As for the locking devices of this type, there can be cited those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,616,861, 4,657,291 and 4,709,949, for example. The prior art locking devices consist of a combination of a striker projecting from the back side of an openable wall hinged to a housing and a latch secured to the edge of an opening of the housing in a face-to-face relation to the striker for engaging with the striker and snappingly holding the striker when the openable wall is closed.
In the prior art locking devices, however, if the hinged point of the openable wall is comparatively close to the striker, the radius of rotation of the striker when the openable wall is opened and closed is small, so that the striker enters the latch obliquely.
For this reason, undesirable distortion or twist is produced in the latch, and the striker is liable to be erroneously latched when the openable wall is closed suddenly or quickly.